Cynder's Past
by JourneyofShadows
Summary: There were some things that Ignitus wouldn't tell Spyro about Cynder, now her past is clear, and ready to be told.  CynderxOC  Avarian   More Chapters will come.  T for later chapters, and blood.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue and Friends

Cynder's Past

**Prologue: A Link to the Past**

**A/N: A new story that I thought up that ties into the Evolve Saga (The Undying Flame, Starlight Dragons, Carrier of the Cosmos) but mainly ties in with The Undying Flame. This story connects Cynder to Avarian, her used to be lover, and to the dragoness's name she keeps referring to as her friend before she was killed.**

The black dragoness was surrounded by the ocean from all sides, and was sinking even further into the water, she wouldn't last much longer in the water, but she didn't care, at least then she would be able to see her friend, and forget everything else about her life. Cynder was the Terror of the Skies, hated and feared by all, no one would love her, and she would die alone. The dragon she loved didn't love her back, and only wanted them to be friends. Her life began to flash before her very own eyes, and she closed her eyes, sighing one final underwater breath before sinking towards the bottom. It all changed when she felt lips touch hers, and being rushed to the surface almost immediately.

The light reminded her of the day she first hatched...

_"Am I not meant to be alive?"_

_~Cynder_

_The Legend of Spyro: The Undying Flame, Chapter 15: Another Place to Forget_

**Chapter 1: Friends and Foes**

"The egg! It's hatching"!

"Why now of all times"?

"Find Gaul! He must know"! Those were the only voices the young baby black dragoness heard whilist she came out of the protective shell she had been in for the beginning of her life. She pushed on the walls surrounding her before making cracks in the eggshell, and finally seeing the first signs of sunlight. She continued to push and push until the baby black dragoness finally broke the egg in half and finally touched the ground for the first time, her eyes half closed, since the light was too much for her to handle. She blinked several times before taking in the area around her; she was in a cave with other hatchlings waiting, or have already hatched. The first one to catch her sight was a white dragoness with a golden underbelly and blue eyes. The black dragoness went to her, confused about where she was.

"She's in here!" The black dragoness heard the sound of apes coming from the entrance to the cave, and to her surprise, a huge one was following behind the apes who came in. She stared at the ape, yellow, glowing eyes were staring into her turqouise eyes.

"G-Gaul?" She spoke with fear in her voice, she was scared of the ape in front of her, and so were the other hatchlings.

"Your first word is my name? Excellent work, Cynder," Gaul spoke, picking the dragoness up by the wings. Her name was Cynder, but did she want the name? Maybe, maybe not, but she would just shake it off and go with what her name was. The gargantuous ape took her straight for the leader of the dark army, Malefor, who had been imprisoned long before her egg was brought here. He dropped her in the area to let her look at her surroundings if only for awhile before being picked up again, and brought in front of a wall of aura that held the voice of a dragon.

"Gaul," The voice spoke, terrorizing Cynder's mind with its sound.

"My master, the dragoness has hatched, she will be of good use in this army won't she?" Gaul spoke back to the aura, which suddenly shined yellow eyes, giving the newborn baby dragoness something to fear even more. The eyes looked at her and examined every part of her, from head to tail.

"She is healthy, and will be a good addition to our armies. She will begin training first thing in the morning," The aura spoke again, looking straight at Gaul to signal his leaving with the dragoness.

"I will not let you down my liege," Gaul said, turning away immediately after finishing the sentence, and leaving with Cynder still held by her wings. She looked back at the aura wall, and noticed the eyes were looking back at her, it was the least to say that she was scared. He was planning something, and he needed her to help his plans unfold.

Gaul threw Cynder back into the nursery with all the other hatchlings after the talk with Malefor was over, and the least to say was that she was scared out of her mind at what the Dark Master looked like from what she had seen of him; just yellow piercing eyes held behind a dark, emanating wall. After she had been thrown in, she huddled into a corner with all the other baby hatchlings who were afraid as well as Cynder, when suddenly, as if on cue, another baby dragon egg hatched, revealing that of a red male dragon with ebony horns and a white underbelly. Gaul immediately picked him up and left with him, the baby dragon showing no fear for what lied ahead. After Gaul had left, all the hatchlings dispersed to random parts of the room, talking in fear about what was going to happen. Cynder immediately caught eye of the white dragoness she had seen earlier, and ran straight for her.

_'Maybe she knows about what's going on around here!'_ Cynder thought as she continued to run, her first ten steps in the so-called nursery. She arrived towards her, getting used to walking on all four of her legs, since she was newly hatched and spent the beginning of her life cooped up in an egg.

"Hello, ummm... my name is Cynder," The black dragoness spoke, awkwardness and curiosity in her voice.

"I'm...I'm Brick," The white dragoness said, fear in her voice about the huge ape randomly coming in to take another egg from the nursery. Cynder was needless to say that she was confused about all the things that have just started from when she hatched, to now, which was nearly about five minutes ago.

"So... why does he do that?" Cynder asked Brick, who was confused about her question.

"Why does who do what?" The white dragoness questioned her.

"Why does Gaul take newborns like me and make them see the weird wall thing?" Cynder answered the question with another question.

"Gaul take us to see the Dark Master, Malefor, to be tested," Brick answered.

"But what for?"

"He takes a look at you and determines if you are good enough to be in his army or not."

"But why? Why can't he just get a nurse to do that for us?"

"It's not that simple Cynder, his eyes can sense the darkness inside of you, and the light."

"What happens if he finds light in us Brick?"

"He replaces it with triple training."

"Triple training?"

"Harsh, gruesome training where the host is open to multiple powers of darkness, there hasn't been one hatchling in here who hasn't survived it and its outcome."

"But what if you have too much light, and triple training can't do anything about it at all?" Cynder asked, taking in all of the information she had learned about the gruesome things the army does to all the hatchlings with light in them. Brick teared up at the question, and answered it with the truth,

"Then he has his army kill you". Cynder teared up at the question too, she was afraid of dying, and she didn't want to be in the army, the tiny black dragoness wanted a normal life, where she had a mother and a father she could love and respect until the time came for her to leave.

"It's also for the best to be cautious with the friends you make," Brick said, finally stopping her tears from falling anymore.

"Why's that?" Cynder asked, her tears had stopped falling as well.

"When you're in Malefor's army, you can't tell who's your friend, and who's your foe. I've only been here for several days, but his army is ruthless. They'll kill anyone who doesn't follow orders, and whoever gets snitched out," Brick warned her about the other hatchlings in the area. Cynder turned her gaze towards the other baby dragons and dragonesses.

"You can't tell them apart, so you have to start asking questions about who is who, and if they would snitch you out if you did something wrong," Brick finished before hearing the bells for training. Cynder knew her training would start the following sunrise, and she was terrified about what it was she was going to be learning about. As Cynder watched Brick leave the nursery to go train, she laid down, and fell asleep, into a dreamless, voidless sleep.

_'I may have been here for only a few minutes, but now I want out!'_ The thought screamed through her tiny mind as she entered her deep sleep.


	2. Chapter 2: Training Time

**Chapter 2: Training Time**

The rays of the morning sun shone brightly, and harshly on Cynder, waking her up almost immediately, and noticing her surroundings almost immediately. She was still in the nursery, many of the other hatchlings were still fast asleep, and didn't want to be bothered. She got up, and made the decision to look at more of her surroundings. She wanted to know more about where she was, and studying the surroundings would be her only chance. As soon as she walked out, Gaul picked her up by her tail, and took her outside.

"I was just about to go and get you," Gaul cackled, "It seems you did the hard part for me Cynder". He placed the black dragoness between two other hatchlings, one was an earth dragoness, at least older than her by five days, and an ice dragon, at least younger than her by an hour or two.

"You are in this army now, and I have certain rules you WILL abide by if you want to survive here," Gaul said before being interrupted by the ice dragon standing right next to Cynder.

"But why are we here?" He asked, and suddenly, three apes held him down, while another one came out of the cave wielding an axe almost as big as the ape was. He held the axe down next to the hatchling before raising it into the air, and bringing it back down on the dragon's neck, blood staining the ground in massive puddles. Some of the blood started to flow under Cynder's paws, scaring her almost immediately.

"I don't allow anyone to talk until OR unless I ask them to, if you interrupt me, you will be executed on the spot, such as your poor friend here," Gaul said, pointing to the ice dragon hatchling who had recently been killed.

"Now hear me out, because I won't tell you these rules again: 1: Do not think about running away, you will be executed for treason of the highest kind. 2: Any contact with the outside, and you will be executed for treason of the highest kind. 3: No one of you is to leave the nursery for anything but food, or battle. If you hatchlings leave the nursery for any other reason, you will be executed for failing to abide by orders. 4: No one dragon is to fall in deep love, and forget about their assignment, the two dragons will be executed for failing to abide by orders. 5: Saving yourself from an execution will only mark you as a complete traitor, so when you are about to be executed, you embrace death, not cheat it. 6: Traitors are to be killed on the spot if you are to meet one. And my final rule: No one goes anywhere, alone. You will be killed by my apes if you do break this final rule," Gaul said, picking up the ice dragon hatchling's corpse, and taking it to the pauper's grave not far from them.

"Ugh... I wouldn't want to end up there," The earth dragoness hatchling whispered in Cynder's ear, looking straight for the pauper's grave.

"I... I wouldn't either," Cynder frightendly said, still shocked about the execution that took place right beside her. The black dragoness understood the rules almost immediately as Gaul told them, but was still frightened about the consequences that would happen, and as the giant ape returned, hands blood-stained, Cynder couldn't help but quiver in fear.

"Now that that's done with, let's get some real training done," Gaul snapped his fingers, and apes surrounded the small group of hatchlings.

"I have here fifteen apes, kill every single one of them, or be killed yourselves. Convexity gave you the ability to walk, run, and speak, let's see if it affects your instincts of survival," Gaul said, stepping away almost immediately, announcing the training to commence.

The apes were ready, no weapons, just bare hands, but the hatchlings weren't. As the moments passed, the apes grew more anticipated about their attack strategy, and the hatchlings grew even more frightened, except for a certain red dragon, ready to spring into battle.

"Wusses," The male said, springing to the first ape he could lay a blow on. Cynder became more frightened when she saw the male grabbed by the horns, then by the neck in a deathgrasp. The black dragoness suddenly felt blood rushing to her heart, through her forelegs and rear legs, and through her mind, she was ready to land the strike on the ape. Her senses went wild, and her mind was stuck with only one thing: KILL. The next thing she knew, she had half of the ape's throat in her mouth, and her horns were stained by the blood of the ape she had slain, saving the male from his demise. The two continously attacked their assaulters, Cynder protecting all the hatchlings while the male attacked head-on. By the end of their fifth minute when the battle began, Cynder and the red dragon had killed off all fifteen of the apes. Gaul had his hands in a clapping position, walking towards the two dragons who were standing in the middle of the fifteen corpses.

"Well done Cynder, Avarian," Gaul congratulated the two, cackling. Cynder growled, but the red dragon bowed his head down before heading towards all the other hatchlings, fear shooting their veins as they watched the two kill all of the apes. Cynder looked over to see the earth dragoness cowering under the others, scared more of her now than death. With a sigh, Cynder left the training field, and back to her own sleeping quarters, but stopped by the sound of more apes heading out to the field. Her tears had began to well, but was comforted by a mysterious force, a dragon.

"Don't worry about them, they can handle themselves," the hatchling said, his words giving her more to cry about, and then, the screams of many hatclings were heard outside. She cried out in pain and suffering, and the hatchling only let her do so, because to him, pain was the only way to suceed. When her tears dried, she let her grasp on him go, and she made her way into the tunnel where she slept, feared when the apes came back to tell her that the others in her sleeping area were dead.

"Please, don't die on me out there," she silently prayed as she continued her exhausted walk back into the nursery, sleep ready to take over again.

Regaining her strength, the dragoness pulled herself up and saw half of the hatchlings back in the nursery, a majority of them lightly injured from their gruesome training, and of those severely injured hatchlings, a light purple female hatchling limped around, her injuries proving to be more harsh than anyone else's.

"Ashmore, hold still," a yellow female hatchling spoke, chasing after the light purple dragoness.

"Primith, care for yourself!" Ashmore screeched, continuing to limp across the room to get out of the nursery.

"Ashmore!" A dragoness called out from the entrance, the voice was clearly from the hatchling Cynder had met the other day.

"Brick!" Cynder called out to her friend as the white dragoness made her way into the nursery with all the others. Brick clearly was afraid of the training she went through, and the training all the hatchlings went through.

"Cynder, everyone, are you okay?" Brick called out, her tone showing remorse and worry.

"Ashmore took on severe injuries, I took a few light scratches, Primith hardly has any injuries, and the rest of the hatchlings have little to no injuries, especially Cynder," a green dragoness spoke up, the same one she met at the training field in fact.

"You checked me out while I was sleeping?" the black hatchling asked, as to the eath hatchling's answer was a nod.

"Good work Atma, now that we have enough to help us break out, we begin tomorrow," Brick said, the earth hatchling bowing her head in pride.

"What's going on Brick?" Cynder asked, her confusion catching onto the yellow dragoness named Primith.

"Well, me and Atma have been here for three months, and with our time nearing to be taken for triple training, we thought it might be best if we leave here and never turn back, Warfang is a four day voyage from here, and it'll be easy to make it there than anywhere else, if you don't follow us, then you will die in war Cynder," Brick answered, her voice made clear for all the others to hear.

"The Dark Master has plans for the ones who stay alive, and sends them to war immediately, if a hatchling can kill a grown dragon with ease, and win the war without haste, he sends them to triple training, don't let one of them be you, join us Cynder," Atma finished her friend's answer, staring at all the other hatchlings; all so young, and about Cynder's age, a day, maybe two, or three.

"We all made the choice, we're leaving with them, but what about you?" a golden orange male spoke up, nearly a month older than her to what she realized. Most of these hatchlings were months older, and not many were only days older than what she realized.

"I-I'll do it," Cynder said, her voice beaming with pride and joy, for she never tasted the outside world before, except for the training field, where she would be put through harsh, and intense training all over again, she never wanted to be here to begin with, a family is what she had hoped for, it was the only hope she had. The darkness didn't shine a light, so it was time for her to make her own path to the light.


	3. Chapter 3: War Closes In

**Chapter 3: War Closes In**

A long, lone, dark tunnel was eerie during the night, but at the end was an ancient door, almost as old as the walls that held it up were. Inside were six dragons, nearly ancient-like, and below them were the apprentices of these ancients.

"Grand elders," A lone green male spoke up, his tail resembled that of a spiked ball, his horns draping up then behind his head in a curve.

"You may speak Terrador," a calming voice soothed him, her scales shining nearly black in the torches lighting up the room.

"Kalamia, Lephisto, Bestore, Alliviash, Celto, Jarmore, war nears us and with the assault on the temple nearly days ago, we believe the dragons are not ready to fight," Terrador said, his head bowed in sadness, for his and his mate's egg had disappeared on the night of that assault.

"Rest assured young guardian, for Ignitus has given us the hope that the purple dragon lives on, his bravery to get the egg that withheld the young hatchling within is giving us the hope we wish for," Bestore said, her sky blue scales emanating off the torches and the glow of the moon above them.

"Yes my friend, the young dragon will surely find us when the time is right," a red dragon approached him in calm-like manner, his sand-white horns shining completely white in the moon's glow, and his red scales and other horns glowed like an ignited flame, he was the one who saved the egg from despair.

"Yes my acquaintance, his audacious antics did protect the egg from those unintelligent beings we call apes," a grown yellow dragon approached, his purple underbelly could be compared to that of all the purple dragons that were around and passed.

"English my friend," An ice cold tone approached the trio, his scales nearly white in the shine of the light above them.

"What my pupil is trying to say is not to worry, and hope for the best that those apes don't make it as far as us, our time to be guardians has long passed us, and your time to protect those you care for is now," The dark yellow elder named Lephisto described out his young apprentice below, while the four looked over at their mates as they approached the light. Their scales shining radiantly in the celestial moon's presence.

"The Night of Eternal Darkness has passed us, and now we must wait another three years to fight the darkness within us, and with love at your side, you will suceed young dragon," the scarlet-colored elder said, his eyes scanning the female named Liana, her ice scales could be easily compared to that of the other dragon below them.

"Ignitus, leave Terrador alone, he lost his only pride and joy in the assault, and his mate is the same there," Liana spoke, her blue eyes making their caring way into Ignitus' fire red eyes. Ignitus made a few steps back away from the earth guardian, his best friend.

"Alliviash, will Elzia recieve the news of this?" The ice blue dragon asked out to the tutor of his mate, the elder's deep blue scales and eyes glimmering with hope as to the news of Elzia finding out.

"My days of visions have passed Cyril, only fate can tell if she recieves our message of the assault and soon coming war," the elder spoke, her eyes going from a glimmer of hope, to a shine of despair.

"But we only have one moon before The Dark Master's forces begin marching on our lands, can't Cirazoke find anything?" Cyril echoed out to the moonlight, his fears staring him right in the face, but his mate's soothing touch gave him a sign of peace again.

"My love, the pool of visions has not given me anything yet on what will happen in the future, be patient, and we'll see this through, together," Cirazoke soothed him, his fears beginning to ebb.

"I'm sorry, I guess the assault got the better of me, our egg has been away from us for so long now, it seems like I've forgotten what peace was like," Cyril spoke back, nuzzling into his lover's warm neck, a purr of love and happiness arising from her vocal chords.

"We all had the same love you share now, and now we are no longer able to share what you do now, never forget what we've done for the dragon race after we pass, we can only hope for the safety of those lost in the shadows, and bring them into the light," The pine green elder named Celto called out to them, his voice shining hope into their hearts once again. Their meeting with these elders neared its end, and with it, the shine of the moon, for dawn was beginning to rise far into the distance.

"Dawn draws near, and so does the army of Malefor, may the ancestors watch over you during this coming battle," Kalamia called out to the younger dragons, their departure from this part of the temple, and back into the sleep they ever so long deserved.


End file.
